Notts County - Meadow Lane

My first visit to Meadow Lane was in April 1997, as Wycombe were fighting against relegation from the third tier of the Football League. Luckily my brother had won a competition on ITV's night time goals show and we had 4 tickets for free to a football match of our choice. So the next away game for Wycombe was the chosen one. We made our way up on the coach and got there in plenty of time for kick off.

The match itself was a good one. This was a real relegation 6 pointer, as well as Wycombe needing the points, Notts County were very likely to go down too if they lost. The Chairboys got off to the perfect start after Steve Brown caught County keeper off of his line from 35 yards to give Wycombe a first minute lead. It was 1-1 not long after - chaos in Wycombe's defence allowed Sean Derry to get the equaliser. Steve McGavin put Wycombe back ahead on the half hour mark, but the defences still continued to present both teams with chances. Somehow, the scores stayed 2-1 to Wycombe until the final whistle, giving us 3 vital points in our relegation battle. We then smashed Burnley 5-0 the following Tuesday and were ultimately successful in avoiding relegation.

I made several future visits to Meadow Lane, 11 in total so far. We actually have a pretty decent record there, winning more than we lose. The most memorable visit was a 4th Round League Cup game, in which we triumphed 1-0 to set up a Quarter final with then Premiership side Charlton Athletic. We went on to the semi final that year, before losing to Chelsea.

MEADOW LANE is a smart modern stadium which has not changed one bit since I went there. It hasn't needed to to be honest, with a 20,000 all seated capacity, Notts County will not be outgrowing it anytime soon. Away fans used to be located behind the goal, but following requests from County fans, they are now located in a corner of the side stand, sadly at a hefty premium, compared to what we were charged before.